Scriptiegegevens

Among the several cultural dimensions identified throughout the literature, this study focuses on one, in particular, the national attitude towards uncertainty developed by Geert Hofstede. Uncertainty avoidance is the extent in which people tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty. A distinctive example of a country ranking high on the uncertainty avoidance index (in reality it ranks first) is Greece. Having in mind the country’s high ranking on the uncertainty avoidance index, a case study in Greece is developed. This case study investigates the influence of uncertainty avoidance on reforms that implemented on the Greek labor market in time of the recent European debt crisis. Since the direct influence of uncertainty avoidance on labor market reforms cannot be examined directly, the study examines the influence of uncertainty avoidance on two variables that according to the theory influence labor market reforms. These two variables are; government corruption and social dialogue. According to the conducted empirical analysis, the results provide evidence that both social dialogue and government corruption have a statistically significant influence on labor market reforms under an environment of high uncertainty avoidance. Nevertheless, the study design itself (a case study) and a number of limitations hinder the generalization of the results.